Around two months ago, I stood on a scale and saw that I was around 185 pounds. Let me say that I do realize that this would be a respectable weight for a six foot guy at my age, but the consideration is rarely made that a fair percentage of that weight should be made in muscle, not fat. In my case I had been spending too much time sitting in cars, offices, and living room couches, so you can assume what made up my weight. After being just a little bit embarrassed while shirtless on a beach trip, I realized that it was finally time for a lifestyle change. My metabolism isn’t what it was when I was 17 and it was time to start making up for it.
Last night, Wii Fit was happy to inform me that I’m now at around 173. Over a ten pound loss in two months! Plus, I feel like I have more engergy lately and my shirtless reflection in the mirror is looking a lot better lately. Honestly, I made very few changes. I know they’ll not work for everyone, and I’m in no way any kind of expert on this subject, but I thought I’d share the small number of things I did consciously change that seem to have helped.
One Hour of Activity – For the past month or so, I’ve set a goal to spend at least one hour a day outside doing something. I tend to stay outside during the warmer months, so this wasn’t a big problem. While I do try to take a walk or a bike ride a number of days out of the week, I’m not always doing something extremely strenuous. Sometimes it’s just washing the car or watering the plants. Using a push mower to cut grass comes into play a few days out of the week, I’m sure that doesn’t hurt either. And after spending eight hours of the day in front of a computer monitor, it feels good to actually be doing something. It feels good to be moving around and I always find that I end up spending more time outside and having fun doing it.
Working Out – Ever since high school, I’ve made a habit of doing a few push ups and sit ups most days out of the week. But it wasn’t until recently that I realized that what I was doing what essentially pointless. I never pushed myself and became complacent. But recently, I’ve changed my habits a bit. At least four days out of the week, I’ll simply keep doing those kinds of things until I feel like I simply can’t do it anymore. No particular numerical goal in mind, just a goal of pushing myself further each time. And every time I do it, I’m able to do more and I feel less sore.
Eating Right - I know. These things sound self explanatory and are always the things you hear all the time on the subject. But this is the perfect example of taking the time to think more about your goals and sticking to it. You always think to yourself that you should eat healthier, but for me, it wasn’t until I actively involved myself into a specific goal of doing it that I noticed the effects. And it doesn’t have to be big things either. I stopped putting a lot of butter on things, I switched to Diet Coke (which tastes exactly the same as regular Coke eventually), I started eating healthier lunches, I cut out constant snacking. Just small stuff like that. And I still eat at Burger King and have junk food, just far more rarely. A burger or piece of cake every day will make you chunky, but not once a week.
The Small Things – Again, this seems pretty obvious. But when you add them up in your mind throughout the day, it makes a difference. Always take the stairs instead of the elevator or park your car farther away in the parking lot, for example. I could list a ton of different things like this because there are a million little things you can do throughout the day that add up. You’ll know what they are when you see them.
Like I said earlier, these sort of things probably aren’t going to work for everyone. But again, I’m nothing resembling an expert on this so they could for all I know. But I do know they’re working pretty well for me, and that the main thing has been keeping to it.
After years of waiting for the chance, I was finally able to see Fanboys this past weekend via Netflix. If you’ve not followed the history of the movie, it might not be immediately clear why there had been so much anticipation for it by myself and some of my peers. You can see its Wiki entry for more gossip, but basically the movie had been torn apart by vicious studio heads who wanted an entirely different film after they saw a nearly finished cut. Fanboys essentially deals with a group of Star Wars fans in late 1998 who are determined to break into Skywalker Ranch so that one of their friends who is dying of cancer can see The Phantom Menace before he passes. The movie is essentially still that, but it unfortunately is a hollow shell of what it could have been.
I certainly get the feeling that it could have been much more than what this shallow description paints it as, but Fanboys is essentially Kevin Smith Lite. It’s a toned down combination of Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, however it’s clearly more tailored for Star Wars geeks than it is for geeks at large like Smith’s movies are. Being able to still clearly remember the run up to Episode I (before we all actually saw it), I can say that the feeling of giddy uncontrollable excitement that it conveys is eerily accurate. Having only experienced the original trilogy and its culture secondhand for so many years left a void in that community that was only going to be filled by a new movie. That period of early late ‘98 and early ‘99 was such a cool one, and I’m thrilled that Fanboys has been able to so accurately bottle it and put it in the time capsule of this movie for years to come.
Aside from that, the rest of the movie is a passable road trip comedy. If you are in on the inside jokes that most of the geek community will understand, you’ll be laughing throughout. Some of the bits work better than others that seem awkward, but it’s still a pretty funny ride. Again, much of the comedy and introspective bits seem like what a PG-13 Kevin Smith would produce, but that in no way means that it doesn’t produce a good movie. He obviously approves, as he and Jay both make show up for a pretty funny cameo. Perhaps it means that this script would have worked far better in his hands, but I suppose we’ll never know.
Unfortunately though, the movie is absolutely destroyed for everyone else. It’s a fun road trip movie with callbacks that will be warmly received by it’s target audience, but I can’t imagine this being that much of a memorable movie for just about anyone else. The sad part about this is that it clearly could have been. The character that eventually passes has a great line of dialogue in the last ten minutes explaining that the ride was never about seeing Episode I itself. A point that unfortunately seems to have been completely lost on the idiotic corporate twats that ruined what could have been a movie with unimaginable heart.
There are many, many scenes where it’s so clear that lines or entire conversations are being cut out. One of them so tackily edited that the sick character falling out of a van was supposed reason enough for him to visit the hospital as opposed to his terminal cancer. By the time he is the only one of the group able to see Episode I early, it’s easy to forget why he’s the only one able to do so. The ending scene is finally and fleetingly able to deal with his death, but it’s hardly touched upon. This completely leaves the thesis of the movie trashed, and you feel cheated knowing that you didn’t see the movie as the original writer and director intended.
I still recommend this movie, but only with the caveat that you watch it with an open mind. Just remember it isn’t entirely the movie that the writer / director intended. Perhaps even consider it a rough cut, as I remain optimistic that a Director’s Cut will some day surface. I know that’s when I’ll buy the DVD, not a second sooner.
I’ve been watching some of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) coverage this past week, and while a lot of it has me excited for what’s to come in the near and distant future, there’s been one aspect of one of my favorite genres of games that has had me just a little bit disappointed. I love the fact that there’s going to be a Beatles Rock Band game, but other than that, I’ve seen really very little that has me excited for music games. I’ve really gotten into these kinds of games over the past few years, mostly for the fresh and new experience that they provide in taking games beyond just the screen and allowing you to have a lot more physical and musical fun with your friends. But it is admittedly getting a bit stale lately and I think it’s time for Harmonix and Neversoft, the companies that make the most popular ones, to venture out with something new.
Even with the new Beatles game, the structure is basically the same. Each person plays an instrument or sings. You can have a number of people sing in melody with the Beatles songs, but that’s really all that is truly new. I find it a shame that so many homes now have closets full of fake plastic instruments, but these companies are having a hard time finding out new ways to utilize them. The next Guitar Hero is taking some small steps by making the game a virtual DJ that anyone can jump in and play with at any time during a party, but I still sort of feel like this isn’t pushing any new concept far enough. Without forcing more expensive and otherwise useless peripherals on customers, where else can they take this?
I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks now, and I think I have a concept that I would push at a meeting if I were working at Harmonix or Neversoft. One of the most fun aspects of any of these music games is that it recreates a live performance. Harmonix realized this and created the Rock Band Stage Kit which gives it even more of that vibe. But one of the things that these games is sorely missing is the opportunity to be spontaneous or creative. At a live performance, you’re likely to hear alternate versions of your favorite songs with extended instrumentals or lyrics. With Rock Band or Guitar Hero, you’re stuck with the rigid track as it appeared on an album. Sure, both let you randomly mash buttons during solos of the developers choosing, but you aren’t really creating anything truly unique by doing that.
Why not give players more flexibility? Give them extended periods of their choosing where they are free to create new drumbeats, bass lines, or guitar solos. Even go so far as encouraging it by giving extra points for doing so. Guitar Hero has a studio feature where you can create songs, why not have a similar option where you are free to remix your favorite existing tracks? Or how about at the very least creating freestyle sections inbetween songs where players are free to create their own melodies before the next song begins? I think however that the idea that would be the easiest to implement would be for modifying songs while you play them. Allow the player to play a song acoustically or to change the rhythm if they’d like. A unique function of a live performance is when a band creates a version of a song that you would only hear live, I think it’s silly for any music game to not consider this.
I think the main thing that discourages me is that these music games are doing exactly the thing that a musical experience shouldn’t do, they’re severely limiting creativity instead of actively encouraging it. A lot of kids are moving on from Guitar Hero to play a real guitar, but it’s not because they are encouraged to do so by the game. It’s because they’ve become bored with what little the game has to offer. I think it’s great that these kinds of games are helping to encourage future musicians, but I think there’s far more those games can do in terms of bridging the gap between fake and real instruments.
Back in 2002, Paramount Pictures committed a cardinal sin. They released Star Trek: Nemisis, a clumsily handled feature length Next Generation episode that effectively rendered Star Trek “uncool” within popular culture. Who would have guessed that less than seven years later, it’s now hip to like Trek again? If you’ve been trolling review sites, you’re probably aware that the new film simply titled ‘Star Trek’, is gaining both steam and popular acclaim. As of the posting of this, it has 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.3 on Metacritic, which should at least give you the idea that you can safely enter the theater to see it without having fear the ire of your non-geek friends.
Those review sites can tell you the opinions of jaded newspaper writers, and a lot of other sites can tell you the opinions of longtime hardcore Trekkies. Both of those types can bring you wholly different sets of opinions, but one of the most telling opinions is that of the casual fan. It’s those, as well as the uninitiated, that Paramount and J.J. Abrams hoped to lure in with this Trek. I feel somewhat as if I fit that category, and I’m here to tell you that they’ve accomplished what they set out to.
It’s rare that film marketing is both hyperbolic and accurate, but the assertion that “This isn’t your father’s Star Trek” is just that. Whether this iteration be a full reboot, partial reboot, or whatever else, it’s a wonderful clean slate and breath of fresh air not only for the series but for the genre as well. Abrams isn’t afraid to let you know this either, especially in the first few scenes of the movie. The very first before the title sequence even appears holds both more action and emotion since, yes, Wrath of Khan. Some of the other early scenes make it painfully clear that this is something entirely new, namely the scene with young Kirk driving a Corvette that was featured in the trailers. If you think you’ve seen this part of the movie from those trailers already, think again. There’s a totally unexpected soundtrack twist in play that can both make hardcore Trekkies cry blasphemy and excite the uninitiated as well.
Yes, it’s a reboot and origin story, but it doesn’t follow exactly the same narrative structure or hold the same stylistic ethos that has worked well in recent years for Batman and Bond. While many of the elements seem do seem fresh and new, this new Trek does unapologetically stick with what has previously worked well. The outfits are mostly unchanged, the Enterprise looks mostly the same, all of the characters keep their trademark traits. Anything new is almost always an improvement. The score and new theme work tremendously well as both bombastic and retro, the new deck looks both atheistically awesome, and the fluid, frantic cinematography previously unheard of in any Trek is a sight to behold. We’ll avoid specific spoiler territory here, but there are some pretty significant changes to be had here. Some which will seem ….um, logical.. but some which will certainly spark fanboy debate for years to come. But even with some new direction for them, each classic character stays as such. Dozens of lines and character traits sprinkled and well weaved throughout that are unapologetically lifted from old episodes and films will certainly quench fanboy thirst.
There were some who doubted that the original crew could be re-cast, myself included. However, the roles that are in the forefront are totally owned by their new players. Know this, Chris Pine is a super star waiting to happen. He’s a charismatic actor that provides a lot of believability, humor, and also totally owns the role. Shatner no longer has a monopoly on Kirk. Karl Urban is also a complete surprise, trading in his stock big guy roles of the past decade for a totally accurate and wonderful McCoy. Along with a pitch perfect Spock from Zack Quinto, and a hilarious (yet underused) Simon Pegg as Scotty, it’s hard to imagine many of the casting choices being made any differently.
Paramount succeeded in convincing me to come into the theater, and Abrams has convinced me that Trek is cool and relevant again. Star Trek is a wonderful breath of fresh air not only for the franchise, but the genre itself. While most popular Sci Fi in the past few years such as Battlestar Galactica has trudged dark and depressive territory, this new Trek again brings out the sort bright optimism that Roddenberry originally envisioned, only this time with a whole lot of fun that would have been impossible to foresee earlier this decade.
I’m really not sure at all if this has already been thought of. In fact, there very well may be an iPod Touch / iPhone app that does something similar to it for all I know. If you are aware of anything like it, drop me a line in the comments.
So here’s the scenario. I own two iPods, a Touch and a previous generation Nano. I don’t really use either one any more than the other. Both have better environments for use, and my wife and I often randomly take one or the other to work with us. I often listen to a ton of podcasts and audiobooks, again not on either one in particular. It’s often difficult for me to find the spot in a podcast or audiobook where I left off when I switch iPods. Sure, I can sync them both to iTunes on the home computer, but I don’t usually sync them both on a regular basis. That said, what’s the reason that my iPod Touch can’t “phone home” to iTunes via WiFi? It could send iTunes my bookmarks and previous listen points. So if I sync my Nano prior to syncing my Touch, it will still be able to pick up from the last position.
That may be too much voodoo to work for a simple problem, but it would certainly be a welcome addition to the iPhone 3.0 software or any other future Apple hardware with built in WiFi. It certainly seems like one of those “let us do it for you” Apple sort of things, and I really wonder if they’ve considered doing it. Make it happen, Steve.
